He listens to circa-1999 Limp Bizkit unironically, zooms around in a bright-orange McLaren 650S and is embroiled in three sexual harassment lawsuits involving his nannies. He's also the billionaire investor who saves Pied Piper.

Richard encounters Russ (a phenomenal Chris Diamantopoulos) while on his way to accept Hooli CEO Gavin Belson's offer to buy out the compression-algorithm company. Then, following lunch at a high-end hibachi restaurant, they make a deal: Russ will loan $5 million to Pied Piper.

Upon hearing news of the deal, Monica tries to stop Richard, saying, "If you succeed, he gets a huge chunk of Pied Piper and if you fail, this lunatic has ratchets to seize control of the company." But despite her insistence (and the fact that the top Google search suggestions associated with Russ are "douchebag," "sexual harassment lawsuit," "billionaire" and "misogynist"), Richard remains unswayed.

Naturally, though, Russ' money — which doesn't amount to much after Pied Piper pays for litigation fees among other costs — comes with a lot of baggage.

My favorite laugh-out-loud scene in episode 3, "Bad Money," is when he meets the guys at Pied Piper's home base. Russ' outrageous personality stands in stark contrast to the introverted nerdiness of Richard, Gilfoyle, Dinesh and Jared, resulting in comedy gold. Here's one exchange:

Russ (gesturing to Jared): "This is the guy in the house doing all the f*cking, amirite? You know I'm right. This guy f*cks!"Jared (smiling, supremely flattered): "Thank you..."

However, such extreme differences mean personality clashes are inevitable. Russ initially promises Richard that he'd stay hands-off with regards to the company, but it's soon clear that won't actually be the case.

During a team meeting, Russ talks loudly on his cellphone, scoffs at Richard's quiet manner of speaking and invites over a rude video game-playing friend. He also forces his terrible business ideas upon the guys — at one point, he takes a chunk of Pied Piper's money to purchase billboards they can't afford (including one outside Belson's office).

In short, as Dinesh says, Russ is "the worst man in America."

To make matters worse, he isn't even giving them the $5 million all at once. Instead, Russ will cut Pied Piper a new check every other week from now until CES in January.

For now, it's hard to tell if Russ will end up being more foe than friend in the team's fight against Belson, who is busting out the big guns with Big Head. He and his team of lawyers plan to win the lawsuit by portraying Richard's best friend and current Hooli employee as the brainchild of Pied Piper. The more praise they heap on Big Head, the more it will seem like he — rather than Richard — created Pied Piper at Hooli.

Belson's reputation as an out-of-touch Goliath was further fleshed out this episode in a scene featuring cameos by Re/code co-executive editors Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. While speaking at the publication's Code Conference, Belson compares the plight of billionaires in America today to that of Jews in Nazi Germany. "One can argue that billionaires are actually treated worse, and we didn't even do anything wrong," he says.

It's yet another great example of Silicon Valley's ability to parody tech culture with timely references.

In this case, Belson's ridiculous comments were pulled straight from real-life headlines: Thomas Perkins, billionaire and co-founder of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, made that exact comparison last year. (It's also worth noting that Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers is the firm that was involved in a high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit by former employee Ellen Pao, a case that riveted Silicon Valley.)

We'll see if Hooli's lawsuit against Pied Piper shapes up to be just as riveting.

Best lines

"I got three nannies suing me right now, one of them for no reason." - Russ

"They just kept saying that if I didn't waste so much money at the butthole doctor, then we'd have enough money, but I pay for all my medical out of pocket." - Jared

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